Comments on: 'First you fall in love with Antarctica, and then it breaks your heart.' - Kim Stanley Robinson

'First you fall in love with Antarctica, and then it breaks your heart.' - Kim Stanley Robinson

anastasiav — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 06:46:01 -0800

75 Degrees South :: blogging from Antarctica

By: thebabelfish

thebabelfish — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 07:46:22 -0800

Ooh, neat find. For those of you looking for the RSS feed, the URL is http://simonc.f2o.org/south/index.xml.

By: sourbrew

sourbrew — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:21:08 -0800

His book Antarctica was really really good. I strongly recommend it to anyone who has read any other Kim Stanley Robinson. My favorite portion from the entire book is the description of an ice luge that empties into a heated underground water pool.

By: carmina

carmina — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:34:23 -0800

wow! the aurora australis pictures are magnificent! Thanks, anastasia

By: astro38

astro38 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:57:04 -0800

Well that was weird, browsing metafilter and coming across a link to my own site - thanks anastasiav, glad you're enjoying it!

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:19:57 -0800

Astro38, you know my good friend Sandwich Girl?

By: astro38

astro38 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:23:35 -0800

I've read her website but never met her. Antarctica is a pretty big place - I'm a couple of thousand miles from McMurdo and you can't exactly go visit!

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 15:54:59 -0800

from McMurdo and you can't exactly go visit! Oh did they cancel the municpal penguin shuttle?

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:17:45 -0800

Astro38 -- you're very welcome. I've been digging around on your site for days and days, and I think its great. Its well put together, well written, funny where it needs to be, and a joy to read. I'm glad that you take the time to share your experiences with us. If you ever have a minute, drop me an email at the address in my profile. I have a young friend (no, really) who wants to ask you some questions....

By: astro38

astro38 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 17:00:16 -0800

Here's a site that's got me hooked at the moment - Guillaume Dargaud's diary of life at Concordia station. They are a long way from the coast on the Antarctic plateau and really have it tough - not only do they get temperatures down to -80C (I can't imagine what another 30 degrees colder would be like!) but it's the first year anyone has wintered there so they are still finishing off the base and learning a lot of new stuff as they go along. A few weeks ago they were the first humans ever to see a sunset there - what an amazing experience! Oh, and for anyone who fancies the lifestyle, here's how to get a job down here.

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 17:21:48 -0800

SandwichGirl explain how there are some nuts who have been going for the 'summer' months year-after-year. After twenty years you get a mountain or shelf named after you. She even mention some of them go to Alaska during the 'off-season'. Some people just can't stand to see the Sun set. Frankly, the Sun is my enemy and should be extinguished.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 04:26:47 -0800

How strange - I'd been meaning to post this site after meeting one of astro38's colleagues on Flickr, but the site was down for a wee while. I wonder how much it would cost to arrange the first Antarctic MetaFilter meet-up - it's only a relatively short hop from the Falklands ;-)

By: astro38

astro38 — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 00:30:24 -0800

That would be Antarctic M I imagine - yes she's down here too. I take it all back, it is a small continent after all.